Lessons from the Founder of the American Civil Liberties Union

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) was founded during World War 1 by Roger Baldwin. During the time, activists and conscientious observers were jailed for not joining the draft. The 1917 Espionage Act was being used to silence and apprehend those criticizing the war efforts. For instance, the activist Rose Pastor Stoke was sentenced to ten years in prison for giving a speech in Kansas City. In an anti-war meeting she stated that “the government is for profiteers and I am for the people.” Today platforms like email. Twitter and Facebook distribute content around the world. In 1920s, the Post Office was one of the few ways of corresponding with people around the US. However mail was subject to censorship and review. The ACLU was formed to defend the rights of those who opposed the war and were being persecuted by the government.

News of the new organization was not well received. The ACLU was accused of encouraging people to avoid the draft. The New York Times denounced it on July 4th, 1917 stating that its leaders were “gaining for themselves immunity from the application of laws to which good citizens willingly submit.” The ACLU office was raided by the FBI and a volunteer group called the Union League Club. And when Baldwin refused to enroll in the Selective Service he was jailed for his views.

Important relationships

Baldwin’s relationships with a few women deeply influenced him. Both his wives had strong personalities. It is during prison he pursued his romance with Madeline Dotty. After he got out of prison they marry in a simple ceremony with no bridal dress or ring. In time, his marriage with Dotty drifts and falls apart. Later they divorce and he marries Evelyn Preston. After two miscarriages they have a baby girl named Helen.

Early on in his career he befriended Emma Golman, “the Red Queen of Anarchy” an activist for the working class and editor of a magazine called Mother Earth. They started a correspondence that would continue till Goldman’s death in 1940. Baldwin describes her as arresting, dressed in dark colors with thick eye glasses and piercing blue eyes after the first time they meet. She was eloquent and Baldwin states “I was overcome by the range and depth of her speech.” She became his intellectual counsel and conscience throughout her life.

His learning style:

Baldwin was a polymath. Growing up he had many different interests including music, drawing, swimming, bird watching, driving and writing essays. When he was young he ofter worried that he wouldn’t amount to anything. When he was sixteen Baldwin wrote to his aunt despairing, “sometimes I wonder if I will ever do anything well…I can’t keep at any one thing…And in everyone I have begun with earnest spirit and in almost everyone I have attained practically nothing. I feel disgusted with myself.” He gets admitted Harvard where delved into many subjects.

He goes to St. Louis after finishing Harvard to do social work. Freed from the constraints of his family, he establishes a reputation for himself. It is here he gets experience with backstage string-pulling and maneuvering, which would help him in later years as the Executive Director of the ACLU. His unclassified occupation helps him become a leader and coalition builder.

His leadership style:

Baldwin was relationship builder. The board he founded at the ACLU was made up of activists and leaders that overlapped with many other organizations. He surrounded himself with a strong team. This included Albert de Silver who could forecast events leading to the results of a future decision. Walter Nelles joined as staff council. He was a classmate of Rogers at Harvard and was a studious lawyer. Baldwin was the the organizer and publicity man. Outside the ACLU he participated in many leftist organizations. A “Crowd Man”, he had a vigorous social circle constantly inviting friends over for dinner. He also built relationships in the government so that he could build a case for civil liberties with successive American Presidents.

Baldwin was also ruthlessly pragmatic. He removed an African-American lawyer named Louis Redding from the ACLU because of his minority status. Baldwin reasoned that “you just cannot be effective in court in civil liberties cases if you belong to one minority and you’re representing another unpopular minority.” He thought that the ends justify the means and danced with moral ambiguity.

Notably, during his tenure the ACLU took issues on principle instead of ideology. They defended the rights of workers throughout the country but they also defended Henry Ford, the American car manufacturer in his dispute with labor. The ACLU fought for evolution to be taught in public schools and defended an anti-semite activist’s right to rent a hall. Baldwin lived by the Voltairian doctrine: “if a person you hate has no rights, they the person you may like has no rights either. In order to defend the people you like, you have to defend the people you hate.” A powerful message for our time.

• Quotes taken from Peggy Lamson’s biography of Roger Baldwin

Author’s note: The ACLU has been at the forefront of challenging President Trump’s Executive Orders to ban travelers from certain countries. I was curious to see how it got started. And then I became fascinated with the founder’s story.